Executive Secretary of the Benue State Agency for the Control of AIDS (BENSACA), Mrs. Grace Wende has revealed that the agency recently discovered a 400-member homosexuals club in Makurdi the Benue state capital.
According to her, the organisation otherwise known as Men Sleeping with Men, MSM, has a large membership of male students from higher institutions in the state. Wende said this yesterday at a one day Training of Media Practitioners on HIV/AIDS in Makurdi, adding that the existence of the gay club in the state was not helping the state government’s efforts at curbing the spread of the HIV virus in the state.
According to her, the organisation otherwise known as Men Sleeping with Men, MSM, has a large membership of male students from higher institutions in the state. Wende said this yesterday at a one day Training of Media Practitioners on HIV/AIDS in Makurdi, adding that the existence of the gay club in the state was not helping the state government’s efforts at curbing the spread of the HIV virus in the state.
“The club was discovered during an Epidemics appraisal carried out by our Canadian partners in collaboration with BENSACA following the state government’s resolve to fight the increasing trend of HIV/AIDs in the state as shown in 2011 survey,” she said.
“In fact my office is already interacting with the group of young men who are mostly undergraduates in various higher institution of learning located in the state.”
She noted that the idea of identifying with the MSM which usually holds their meetings in December in Makurdi was meant to reduce the spread of HIV virus commonly found among them.
Mrs Wende further urged all stakeholders in the state to join the fight against the virus, stressing, “There is a heightened need for scale-up of effective and efficient HIV prevention efforts in the state if we must all win this war against the virus.”
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